Here's What Titans Coach Mike Vrabel Said After Loss to Buccaneers

Tennessee coach Mike Vrabel met with the media following Sunday's 20-6 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Raymond James Stadium. The Titans are now 3-6. Here's the complete transcript from Vrabel's postgame press conference.

TAMPA, Fla. — Tennessee coach Mike Vrabel met with the media following Sunday's 20-6 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Raymond James Stadium. The Titans are now 3-6 on the season, having lost all six games outside of Nashville.

Here's the complete transcript from Vrabel's postgame press conference.

QUESTION: "Can you talk about what your problems were on offense when it had to do with an inability to protect the quarterback for very long?"

MIKE VRABEL: "We didn't run it very well. I thought that first drive, we had some good stuff going on there. We just didn't finish that drive off. Whether there's pressure, or one guy here in the run game, or trying to get the ball off, it was a struggle. And defensively, I thought there were some good things, but we let them have too many third down conversions, and then we gave up that screen.''

QUESTION: "Is it the same kind of things week in and week out, at least in these losses, that are keeping you guys down?''

VRABEL: "No, you have to look at every game as a new game. It has its own issues. You put everything you have into each week to prepare, but today it was just the run game and being able to extend drives, and then we didn't finish those two opportunities into the red zone. We had one coming back there later on, but there were too drives in between red zone visits.''

QUESTION: "Did you see a common thread of what wasn't working in the run game?''

VRABEL: "Whether it was our ability to not block pressure, or guys on the back side, or communication. Dylan (Radunz) kicked over there to left tackle there early on, Andrew (Rupcich) went in there at right guard. It's probably easier to say it was one guy each time. We had a couple of 9-yard runs, but we just couldn't sustain anything. We'd have second-and-2, and then we'd have second-and-7 and then second-and-12. You're not going to do very well.''

QUESTION: "Those red zone visits that you did have to the 9-yard line, what continues to happen ...

VRABEL: "I think we dropped a pass but I'll have to look at it.''

QUESTION: "I think there was a sack on one of them in there, too.''

VRABEL: "There you go. Sure. Sacks are there too. We probably didn't block the guy. Without having watched it, I know we had (tight end) Chig (Okonkwo) there on the front line, and the ball went up in the air, so I don't know what happened there.''

QUESTION: "What's Will (Levis) supposed to do when he's under in situations there where you need to pass?''

VRABEL: "You mean other than just throw the ball down the middle of the field late in the game? Nothing. I mean nothing. Nothing, Paul. Other than to look for an outlet, where you could find a check-down if available. You don't want to get a grounding. Those are things we would always talk about. If a play would break down, make sure if you're out of the pocket and you get the pass past the line of scrimmage. And if you're not out of the pocket, it has to be in the area or the vicinity of an eligible receiver, so there were times where there was a good pocket and we missed a guy and there were times where we didn't protect him and we didn't have much of a chance either.''

QUESTION: "How is this group so consistently unable to provide pass protection that you need in order to play winning football?'' 

VRABEL: "Well, just a few weeks ago we had some pretty good pass protection. We didn't necessarily have it today. Because you can't stay balanced. If you have some longer opportunities, it forces them and allows them to get going and rush the passer. I think if you can stay balanced and run the football and keep it on schedule and keep it at third-and-manageable, you have an opportunity.''

QUESTION: "You consistently praise the effort your team puts forth. Did you feel like you got great effort from these guys today?''

VRABEL: "Again, without watching the tape.  I think that effort is not about execution. You don't want to confuse those two when I talk about this the next minute or so. We'll have to watch. I know Chig came back and tried to help and  get a block when Tyjae (Spears) turned back up field.  We saw guys blocked out on the perimeter. Defensively, we tried to chase the ball and they were able to get down on a long screen. But if you're asking me if you got beat by a guy, that's different. Effort and execution are different.''

QUESTION: "If the preparation is good and the effort ... ''

VRABEL: "That's like your fifth question in a row. Is there anybody else? Gentry, you got anything you'd like me to touch on here?''

QUESTION:  "Given the issues in moving the football, Mike, what went into some of the decisions on fourth down to kick. There was one early on the longer one, and the other one to make it 17-6.''

VRABEL: "I just felt like we needed to try to get some points there. Just to try to keep it two-score. I was going to go fourth-and-1, but we didn't there. That's where I was at. Early on, I felt good about Nick making it and finishing off with some points. You can second-guess every decision, but Nick's been really good for us and he hasn't missed one up until today. It was just about trying to get some points early, and the second one was hoping to get a stop and about keeping it to two scores.''

QUESTION: "What did you like about the matchup with putting Roger (McCreary) on the outside?''

VRABEL: "We had no choice. Some of these things we have zero choice. We're running out of bodies to put anywhere at DB or somewhere

QUESTION: : "To that point, how is (left tackle Andre) Dillard?

VRABEL: "I don't know. We'll see. He was in (concussion) protocol, and wasn't able to come back.''

QUESTION: "If the preparation is good, and the effort is good, how is the execution so poor?''

VRABEL: "Every game is different, every play is different. You look into the matchup. Was it scheme? Was it a mistake, a mental error or a physical error? If they hit a screen on us, we weren't ready to go with pressure over on that side. If Mike Evans beats a corner, Mike Evans is a good player. So we've either got to play different coverage, or do some different things.''

QUESTION: "What did you see from Will? I know he's under a lot of pressure.''

VRABEL: "I thought early on, he had a couple of high passes, and we had some that should have been caught. Nobody was good enough, starting with the head coach and that's how it goes. We had a good week, but this is the only day that matters. This is the day that we have to be great, and we weren't good enough.''

QUESTION: "And Mike, at 3-6 how tough is it ...''

VRABEL: "We're focused on one week, we're going to make the corrections, not sit here and look at these records. That won't get us back, that won't help us win. We can't sit there and do that and what our record is. We have to focus on improvement and finding a way to win.''

QUESTION: "Do you feel like that's been happening at all?''

VRABEL: "No, we wouldn't be 3-6 if it had. I hope not. We have to acknowledge it, and we have to recognize what it is that got us to that point, and how we've got to be better.''

QUESTION: "Do you feel like you came in with an inventive, creative plan offensively?"

VRABEL: "Yeah. I liked the fact that we hit a play-action pass for however many yards on the first play and the reverse to Tyjae, we could have scored on the second play of the game. I thought there were some other things that we had. There is no perfect call. I think if we get a good call and better execution, we'll be better in all three phases.''